Samurai Warriors 4 official review

**KENT HAMMER** Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:57 pm

Samurai Warriors 4
Developed by Omega Force
Published by Tecmo Koei
Available Formats- PS4, PS3 & PS Vita

Finally the gods have bestowed upon us mere mortals a new Samurai Warriors game! But has the long wait been worth it?

The last title in the series was a Wii exclusive here in the West so I am not counting that. You have to go all the way back to 2008 when I joyfully played through Samurai Warriors 2 XL on my XBOX 360. Back then I was already a huge Dynasty Warriors fan, but that title stoked the flames of desire for me and a life long love of Samurai Warriors began.......

This time around its a Playstation exclusive title and they have made a New Gen version especially for us Westerners on PS4. The game has the same trophy list across all three platforms and its also a cross play title. You simply save your game to the cloud on your PS4/PS3 and then you can continue wherever you may go on the Vita. Its seamless and genius and the best example of cross play I have experienced thus far.

The roster of characters is large and the move-sets and weapons used are really impressive and just so varied. It almost feels like an entirely new game each time you switch characters and this keeps things really fresh. You need to learn the special moves and strengths and weakness of each one and then use them to your advantage in the frenetic battles.

Samurai Warriors 4 official review Samura10

Now would be a good time to tell you about the new Hyper attacks, simply press triangle and you will do a hack/slash move-set while accelerating and almost skating at a great speed across the map and cutting down any minions in your path with ease! Its a great addition and in many ways can make using your normally reliable steed abit redundant as its just so much fun to cut through the enemy while speeding along!

Graphically the PS4 version is the best and most polished we have ever seen things. Also the smoothness and speed of battle is really impressive when you have literally thousands of enemies on screen during each mission. When you use your special and go wading into them swinging doubles axes that fire lightning bolts on contact it really is a “WOW” moment!

There are quite a few new features to the series too. You are now able to select which two warriors to control from a roster at the beginning of each mission, but the twist is that both are on the battlefield at the same time. So you can choose when to switch between them to help you get where you need to go in a more timely manner. The AI controls your other warrior for you in your absence, plus you can go even deeper if you want and make them support and protect you or command them to attack a certain enemy general on the map. Its a great addition and like everything about this title it simply works.

Samurai Warriors 4 official review 010_th10

Online and couch co-op is another great addition and it really has been great fun playing through some of the battles with guys from my friends list. Of course you only control the one dude when online and I must say it does make getting some of the challenges done abit more easily when you both know what your doing. There is so much re-playability here and it will take you quite a long time to complete every battle with the full roster of warriors at your disposal.

I must mention that this game does come with a Japanese voice track with English subs. I know some people don't like this, but I personally feel its adds to the overall authenticity of the product and it only sucks me in further.

Now onto chronicle mode which comprises of moving your warrior around a world map, where he will take on a series of smaller battles and skirmishes whilst also recruiting allies, unlocking gear and horses etc along the way. Its really well implemented and could easily be a fully fledged game in its own right.

Personally I feel that this is the title to finally bring the series to the attention of gamers in general as well as being an absolute must buy for long term fans. This game really showcases all what a new gen title should be and as such I shall be awarding this game a stonkingly good 9 out of 10.

dazzamann Wed Oct 29, 2014 7:52 am

Nice review, really must try one of these games sometime

Waggly Bean Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:14 am

Nice review, figured you would love it!

Haven't played a dynasty Warriors game in years now but every so often I do get the urge to play it. Nice to hear that you can choose local or online co-op, as I seem to remember the older 360 titles were local only.

Colne Crusader Wed Oct 29, 2014 10:47 am

Good work mate. Sounds like a great game for fans and a good game in it's own right....

Guest Wed Oct 29, 2014 11:59 am

Good write up Kent

**KENT HAMMER** Wed Oct 29, 2014 12:01 pm

Thanks for the comments guys.

The Vita to PS4 cross save really works perfectly too.

Also bear in mind this is NOT a Dynasty game its a Samurai game, trust me they are very different to play. Very Happy

stubbymite Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:12 pm

this truly is a great game and love this on the ps4 really making me play through my ps4 more like kent I have not played a samurai game since two on the 360.

I love the fact that you can switch characters on the map to make getting goals so much easier and loving the skipping through the maps with the triangle move I am a person that does not use horses that much on these style of games

I have just started the conquest mode and getting the biography written etc.

Just a side note if people download this game it installs as a soft download and looks complete but this infact only installs part of the game and takes a while to complete and only a few sections install.

great review of a truly great game I am loving this

Guest Wed Oct 29, 2014 10:36 pm

fantastic work Kent sire

sounds like this title is a must

great review as always pal

Jevil Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:19 pm

Nice Review man Wink

I'm enjoying the game while I can on PS4 and played with Kent a couple of times.
He didn't talk about it much but there's a lot more little objectives needed to be completed during the course of one match obviously doing them reaps nice extra rewards, sometimes being mandatory to complete the battle and it is quite impossible for people to achieve in a match with the whole "I can do this all with one character and ignore my 2nd" gung-ho approach. Nice touch I reckon, saves you unintentionally following your mate while you play together online since you would be most of the time in an other area doing your own thing while cooperating to get things done or.. making sure the combo keeps building as me and Kent got quite OCD about while we played. XD

**KENT HAMMER** Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:42 pm

9999 combo's then Jevil muffs it up! Wink

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